


The Key

by Weresnake



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Basically run of the mill riddler and batman shenanigans, Gen, math mention, no-, wait why did math kink pop up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24771118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weresnake/pseuds/Weresnake
Summary: Hell was empty, and all of its demons had escaped.Or more accurately: Arkham had suffered a massive prison break that afternoon and everyone had fled for the city,  except one person.Batman entered the cell block with the intent to find out why.(This was an exercise in writing Riddler as well as an audition for an rp server.)
Kudos: 9





	The Key

**Author's Note:**

> This is the product of listening to too many of Riddlers lines from Arkham asylum and then writing while the Riddlers theme from the Telltale game is playing in the background. I might have a problem.

In the dead of night, chaos had let loose as a major prison break had emptied the compound of all of its residents. All except one. 

In the darkest corner of the cell block, Edward sat cross-legged with his chin in hand to show his childlike boredom. The walls left and right of him were covered in thick paragraphs of messy notes and question marks of numerous styles. The drab concrete had become his canvas for whatever riddles he had in mind and not a soul could stop him. Over his head, the light illuminated the room with his signature shade of green, making the white shirt that was part of his prison uniform the same color as well. 

Just as he expected, The Bat himself marched in from the shadows outside his cell. He could make out those beady eyes behind the cowl. 

“So nice of you to visit lil ol me but shouldn’t you be doing Gotham a solid and start rounding up the loons.” It was telling in the way he had said it so smoothly that this was scripted, and Batman was no moron. 

“Why did you stay?” Batman growled. 

He giggled and stood up to stretch. “Stay? Oh please Batman, you couldn’t pay me to stay here if you tried. The other loons here made no effort to get me out because they say I’m an ergonomic jerk.” 

“Then how come you were assessed and formally diagnosed with Narcissism?” They reply coolly and Edward rolled his eyes with a smirk. Now they were getting to the banter he was craving, but it wasn’t a proper encounter if he hadn’t had something head scratching to offer. 

“Hell if I know, I’m too good to be a narcissist anyways.” He began pacing in the small quarters, admiring his many scrawlings of puzzles and inner thoughts. “I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?” 

His eyes slid back to Batman with a smug grin on his face, but the good mood shattered as he noticed that the dark knight's attention was elsewhere. By the look of things, he was talking into his earpiece to that Oracle lady he had heard so much of. Jealousy turned his face red hot with rage and he waved his arms. 

“Hello?!? Earth calling to Bat-fucker, do you possess the brain capacity to solve my simple query?” His voice was loud and a little whinier then he would’ve liked. “I’ll have you know that phoning a friend is cheating as well. Either answer the question or- hey!” He wanted to bang the glass, but remained composed for better showmanship. Now he stood fuming as the Batman himself was apparently too good to pay him any attention. Frankly, Edward would’ve been less insulted if the caped crusader had never arrived at all. 

‘Fine, have it your way’ he seethed internally as he marched to the opposite wall. It was mostly blank save for the straight lines and dots he had meticulously painted on the night before. The image was a graph, perfect as it should be. He fetched a piece of chalk to plot out a sequence of points. Edward was already playing his part successfully either way, but it felt degrading to watch his meticulous plan take a turn out of his control; so he had to wrestle it back to his field. 

“What are you doing?” The gruff voice finally called, and Edward didn’t bother to look back out of pettiness. 

“Of course an ignoramus such as yourself wouldn’t recognize one of the more popular and intriguing sequences in mathematics.” He chided as he continued his dots until he stepped back to admire it. 

More silence, hopefully some cogs were finally turning in his dear detectives head.  
Intuition told him that the batman's hired help was also asking the very same questions if not also looking into it as well. Now that Edward had the spotlight again, he wanted to keep it 

“These are Fibonacci numbers, a never-ending chain of data that follow one simple pattern: The next number is the sum of the two numbers before it.” He continued to explain casually, admiring his own voice carrying across the cell. “You can find it in nature, like in the arrangement of rose petals or the curl of a hurricane from the perspective of space. It’s everywhere, you just have to have an eye for it.”

He spared a glance and the smile returned as Batman was now stalking closer to the glass. Edward’s hand connected the first point to the next in a sweeping arc that looped over like a half-circle, then curved to make a quarter spiral as it graced the next. He only stopped the motion just south of the first point, holding in the suspense as the caped crusader realized why Riddler had really stayed behind. The illustration now made a question mark without its tail and dot. 

If the so-called detective wasn’t so wrapped up with his precious Oracle, he would’ve realized sooner that the riddle had played a part in answering the question from earlier. 

‘I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?’ 

A key. 

Riddler was the key in keeping Batman distracted as the other Rogues fled for their safehouses and the key to catching Batman all by himself. 

That wasn’t the only thing Batman would’ve realized if he hadn’t paid Riddler just an ounce more of attention. The live feed of his image and its drawing flickered and died out as the projector overhead fell apart. 

“It was nice playing with you Batman, maybe next time ditch the lady friend though. You certainly can do better than her.” The speakers from every hallway ring with Edwards' snide voice as Batman grappled away. 

The vigilante made it safely away just as the bomb hidden under the cell went off.


End file.
